On advance toujours

I didn’t plan on neglecting this blog for so long.

Yes

Bruce and I started our relationship a bit backwards.

We lived together from the start. We weren’t even good friends to begin with.

Actually, I barely liked him even before we met.

Lessons from a young entrepreneur

An avid note-taker, I’ve made some notes from the very beginning of this winding self-employment path. They were meant for me, but I realized that they would be better off shared. Should they help just one person out who is launching a business, that’s pretty cool. Here goes, in no particular order.

Keo Confiserie

The past few days in Toronto have gone by both too quickly and painfully slow with errands all at once. Just this past Monday we were still in Brooklyn with our dear friends and now we’re trying trying to catch up with older ones before leaving for Hong Kong this coming Monday night.

Our trip to New York was unforgettable. For a whole 11 days the city was ours to explore and eat. Every one of those days we walked for at least 6 hours and still it wasn’t enough and we found ourselves wanting more. There’s no doubt we’ll be back eventually.

A couple of days ago, we made our final caramel delivery. It still amazes me to think how far we’ve come with it in the time we had.

Our little candy company started in our apartment in the 19th arrondisement of Paris.

Holding Patterns

I think of how around this time last year, I worked in the boulangerie at Marcon’s in St. Bonnet le Froid. I was busy preparing for the great Foire aux Champignon,while allowing my mind to wander to thoughts of Paris. Thoughts of what it would be like to work for the great Jacques Genin in his laboratoire, thinking about the next stretch of my new life in the City of Light.

It feels like so much time has passed, when in reality, I’ve only been home since April. I have thankfully had less time now to reminisce about my year in France.

I have much more to write, but for now, a photo and a video.

 

 

So it continues

I haven’t been here for a while. I’ve been busy, but that’s never really stopped me from posting before.

Verveine

We had a very eventful market session yesterday, with orchestration help from Mother Nature. Last week, we took a much needed week off from the market, and enjoyed the weekend like normal folks. It was a great decision, as we were completely pumped to be back and working this week.

It rained when we left our place at six in the morning. It rained the entire drive there, and rained while we were setting up the canopy. It continued to rain for the first two hours of the market. Still, our regulars steadily trickled by, professing that they cannot live a week without their “caramel fix”. It stopped raining from around 10:00-11:30. At that point, the skies were divided. To the left of us, the sky was blue- bright and endless, interrupted only by wispy clouds. On our right was trouble. Grey clouds, thick and ominous that were slowly forming what was going to be an unrelenting storm. 

The crazy weekend with all the nougat

I can still taste it: the slightly chewy candy studded with almonds and pistachios. The texture is chewy, but tender enough that it gives under the thin, almost transparent layer of wafer paper. The delicate floral notes of honey is the perfect marriage to toasted almonds and the crisp, buttery pistachios.

That is the magic of French nougat.

Keo Confiserie @ Toronto Underground Market

It was a proud moment for me Saturday night to see the Keo Confiserie banner hang against the bare walls at Evergreen Brickworks, the usual site for the monthly Toronto Underground Market.

A life of sugar

A lot has happened since my last post, and still, nothing has really changed.

My days have been consumed with strings of email, paperwork, research, pot-stirring, packaging, recipe testing, networking, kilos of sugar and a lot..of butter.

I have so much to do, but still find myself alone in between everything, wandering Toronto and getting reacquainted with the city.

I’ve learnt to always walk around with a box of caramels in my bag. It’s paid off.

So far I’ve delivered a kilo to a downtown restaurant, and another 2kgs to them on the weekend.

I’m happy they’re well received, and absolutely thrilled that we’ll be selling to the public at the June 9th Toronto Underground Market. Starting on June 16th, and for every Saturday after that we’ll be at the Brampton Farmer’s Market.

Both the website and Facebook page are up now, please check them out:

http://www.keoconfiserie.com

It’s going to be a busy summer, I hope!